Articles

Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.

ALBUM REVIEW August 4, 2020

Maria Schneider Orchestra: Data Lords

Read "Data Lords" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

The skillfully designed cover art tells part of the story; a leaf--half as nature intended--the remainder, a circuit board doppelganger. The pastoral soundscapes associated with the music of Grammy-winning composer/bandleader Maria Schneider belie her activist alter-ego. An outspoken critic of copyright protections, prejudicial revenue schemes and the abuses of “big data," Schneider has authored op-eds and testified before the US Congress. She ventures onto unfamiliar terrain, coalescing her passions on a masterwork double album, Data Lords. The two ...

PROFILE August 4, 2020

20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Johnaye Kendrick

By Paul Rauch

The city of Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and 30's. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in the south. It has produced such historical jazz icons as Quincy Jones and Ernestine Anderson. In many instances it has acted as a temporary repose ...

RADIO August 4, 2020

The French Scene - Part 3

By Ludovico Granvassu

As we continue our journey in today's French jazz scene, we look at how it has been influenced by the many musical traditions that enrich the French society, in particular those from North Africa and the Middle-East, courtesy of Yacine Boularès, Ibrahim Maalouf, Naïssam Jalal, Smadj and Sophie Alour with Mohamed Abozekry and Wassim Halal). To further widen the range of this episode, the urban influence of hip hop on jazz (Kit De Survie and Thiefs); the faux soundtracks of ...

ALBUM REVIEW August 4, 2020

Pedro Melo Alves: In Igma

By Troy Dostert

Since his remarkable debut as a leader in 2017, Omniae Ensemble (Nischo Records), drummer and composer Pedro Melo Alves has quickly established himself as a vital force in the Portuguese jazz scene. With an uncompromising sensibility equally committed to avant-garde jazz and contemporary classical music, not to mention the jazz-rock experimentalism of his work with Rite of Trio, Alves' hybridity is his calling card, and it's a crucial characteristic of the new breed of creative jazz coming out of Portugal. ...

RADIO August 4, 2020

The Renewal of AACM: Nicole Mitchell, Mike Reed, Tomeka Reid, Matana Roberts

By Russell Perry

In 100 one-hour programs, the series Jazz at 100 told the story of recorded jazz. It established the foundations upon which the broadly diverse music of today is built. This is the first hour of the successor series which aims to give voice to the current jazz scene and appreciates its countless creators. In 1965, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians was founded with the motto, “Great Black Music, Ancient to the Future." In 2015, AACM ...

ALBUM REVIEW August 4, 2020

Ingrid Laubrock + Kris Davis: Blood Moon

By John Sharpe

Saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and Canadian pianist Kris Davis recognized each other as kindred spirits early on after the German's move to New York City. They have remained close collaborators ever since. So much so that it's almost a surprise that this is their first record as a twosome. They've honed their shared sensibilities in Laubrock's Anti-House, Davis' Capricorn Climber and co-operatives such as Paradoxical Frog and LARK. And it's that sense of being entirely on each other's wavelength which makes ...

ALBUM REVIEW August 4, 2020

Fredrik Ljungkvist - Kris Davis - Ole Morten Vågan - Øyvind Skarbø: Inland Empire

By Glenn Astarita

Rising star American pianist Kris Davis aligns with A-list Scandinavian progressive jazz artists for a semi-structured program that, among numerous positives, highlights the ensemble's persuasive interactions amid a capacious soundstage, spanning sublime progressions, angular unison choruses and geometrical paradigm shifts. But the musicians unrelenting creativity and thoughtful improvisations spark a winning formula not always easily attainable in these unions, where spontaneous breakouts and plot redevelopments yield significant rewards. “Truffle Pigs and Katmandu Stray Dogs" is a prime ...